Description:
This is a pretty moderate 14.7 mile overnight backpacking trip
in the Michaux State
Forest. In fact, if you remove the 1.3 mile out and back(one
way) to the campsite and start it early enough this could be a
good 12 mile day hike. The tread is a pleasant mix of old woods
roads and footpaths. There is one short, steep climb on the
first day and a more prolonged climb followed by a short climb
on the second day. There are only 2 short rocky sections to
traverse. The campsite is at a recently built shelter on Birch
Run. It is a very popular site but there are numerous camping
areas around it.

Note: If doing this as an over-nighter contact the Michaux State
Forest at 717-352-2211 and give them a description of your
vehicle and license plate number. Tell them you will be parked
at the end of Quarry Gap Road Road.

Trail
Notes:
All trails are blazed as shown on the map. Some but not
all trail junctions are signed. Some trails used on this
trek are also part of the
Caledonia State Park - Quarry Gap
Circuitdescribed elsewhere on
this site.

Walk around the yellow forest gate and proceed along
the Locust Gap Tr (No sign). This is an old woods road.
You’ll pass some deer “exclosures” along the way. These
fences are built to keep deer out of an area recovering
from logging so that it may be studied to see how
recovery differs in the absence of grazing deer. At 0.76
miles the trail splits. There is a post at the fork but
the sign has been missing for several years. The left
fork goes up into Hosack Run and eventually joins the
AT. Stay straight or to the right of the fork and cross
shallow Hosack Run as it flows over the road. Shortly
after this the road forks again. The grassier wide road
bears left. You want to go right onto a narrower road
that goes into the woods. At 0.59 miles another road
comes in from the right. Continue straight, following
the blue blazes. In another 0.23 miles pass through a
power line swath. From there it’s another 0.17 miles to
gravel Milesburg Rd.

Cross Milesburg Rd to a viewing deck that provides a
nice view of Long Pine Run Reservoir. The orange blazed,
unsigned Beaver Tr is to the left of the viewing deck as
you stand in the parking area facing the lake. Follow it
for about 0.17 miles until you come out onto gravel
Birch Run Rd. Turn right and cross a stream on a
bridge/culvert and turn right into the woods to pick up
the continuation of the Beaver Tr. For the next 1.3
miles you’ll follow the shoreline and walk through pine
plantations. As you come around the point you’ll get
nice views of Rocky Knob to the north.

As you reach Birch Run Rd for the second time, climb a
set of old concrete steps to the road. Cross the road
and join orange blazed Rocky Knob Tr. There is a sign
but it is several yards back in the woods. You’ll pass a
nice campsite on the left and then traverse a short rock
field before veering left and climbing steeply up to a
fork in the trail (0.57 miles from Birch Run Rd). Either
direction will get you to where you are going but turn
left for the shorter route. In another 1.37 miles arrive
at another fork in the Rocky Knob Tr.

Bear left here and in 0.25 miles reach the junction with the
white blazed Appalachian Tr. Turn right and in 0.61 miles cross
a dirt woods road. In another 0.69 miles arrive at the Birch Run
Shelter and camp for the night.

The next day, retrace your steps back to the junction with the
orange blazed Rocky Knob Tr but continue straight through the
intersection remaining on the AT. In another 0.23 miles an old
road will come in from the right. Stay straight on the AT. In
another 0.53 miles cross gravel Ridge Rd and begin a steep
descent. Watch it here! This is about the only place where you
might get lost if you don’t pay attention. You’ll soon find
yourself on an old woods road. The road will bear to the left.
You want to leave it here and continue straight on a footpath.
The white blazes follow it but it’s easy to walk by. Descend
into a hollow and cross a dirt/gravel forest road and then a
small stream (0.18 miles from leaving the old woods road). There
is a PATC cabin to the right. Here is the steepest climb of the
trip.

In 0.36 miles from the cabin, come to a strange looking 4X
intersection of forest roads. Walk straight through the
intersection, using none of the roads, and pick up the AT on the
other side. In 0.44 miles cross another old woods road and in
another 0.32 miles cross another gravel/dirt forest road.
Travel 1.09 miles and cross another old woods road at Methodist
Hill where you will descend for 0.37 miles and cross a power
line swath. Climb up the other side of the swath to regain the
ridge.

In 0.79 miles arrive at another strange 4X intersection of
dirt/gravel forest roads. Turn slight left and follow the
southbound road (Ridge Rd but it might not be signed) for less
than 100 yards before reentering the woods to the left. In 0.64
miles pass the northern terminus of the Hosack Run tr on the
left and begin a rapid descent to the Quarry gap Shelter and
spring (0.62 miles from the last trail junction). Continue the
severe drop in elevation for anther 0.63 miles until you reach
an old woods road (blue blazes to the left). This is Locust Gap
Tr. Turn left here and follow it back to your car(s).

Critique: We
did this outing as our first ever backpack. We then repeated it
two weeks later. Great beginner 1-night backpack. The directions
are impeccable and very helpful for beginners, we did not get
turned around once. There is a mild ascent up Locust Gap trail
and then you round the lake. Fill up at the stream after you
cross Birch Run Road. If you choose to go right at the Rocky
Knob split you will be greeted with a pretty steep, rocky
ascent, but you're rewarded with a very nice and secluded
campsite on the left side of the trail once you reach the top.
We chose this route on our first trip. On our second trip we
went left, the ascent is more gradual on this side up to the AT.
There's a good sized campsite about .5 miles down the AT to the
right. Then in the morning you back track. Be sure to fill up at
the stream at the PATC cabin, there will be no water until
you're near the Quarry Gap shelter. The views and terrain are
varied and interesting. There are a few easy water crossings. We
had a great time.

_____________________________________

Name: Peter
Hike: Rocky Knob-Quarry Gap Backpack

Date(s):
10/05-06/13
Rating: 3.5

Critique: As
others have mentioned, this is a very well maintained area,
which is nice. The weather was superb this past weekend (autumn
color were showing, and it was beautiful, albeit a bit hot for
the season). The hike was quite easy, but that allowed for us to
enjoy the forest hiking more. The reservoir was a great perk on
this hike and made up for the lack of views elsewhere. There
seemed to be tons of blueberry bushes, as others have mentioned,
but, unfortunately, it wasn't their season. Also, like other's
said, the Quarry Gap shelter is probably the best I've ever
seen. Lots of other nice campsites at many points along the
trail. We didn't see many other people, nor did we see much
wildlife.

_____________________________________

Name: Eric
Hike: Rocky Knob-Quarry Gap

Date:
07/05-06/13
Rating: 4.5

Critique: Great
beginner hike. Took my wife on her first time backpacking. We
did this loop backward from the description. TONS of campsites
along the way so you can tailor your trip to suit your needs. We
ended up going all the way to the shelter, but wanting to cut
down on the second day we pressed on. Just FYI the short side of
Rocky Knob trail has almost NO good places to camp - it is very
steep on both sides. There are campsites about .1 miles into the
trail at both ends, but not on the trail so do not expect to
camp there. We had hoped to and ended up pushing ourselves just
a little too far to get to the good campsite just North of the
reservoir. But pretty much everywhere else it seems like there
are campsites every .25 miles. Definitely recommend this as a
beginner hike for anyone you're trying to introduce to
backpacking, and it can be done effectively either way (we would
have camped on the north side of Rocky Knob trail if we had to
do it again). Fantastic hike, thanks for the write up! PS.
There's a fun little geocache just north of the reservoir right
on this hike! I think there's another one on the AT too but we
passed it...whoops!

Critique: Great loop that is well maintained and blazed. The AT
has some incredible shelters on this loop.

Trail has some variation of landscape which is a nice bonus, and
doesn't have a lot of elevation gain, so great for beginners and
quick hikes.

Trail is rocky in places, so nice stiff sole boots (ankle high)
will help from foot fatigue. Quite a few camp sites littered all
over on this hike. Large portion close to the lake, but they are
close to forest road access so I could see them filling up
pretty quick in the warmer months.

_____________________________________

Name: Boone
Hike: Rocky Knob Quarry gap
Date: 09/2012
Rating: 3.5

Critique: I have done this hike twice now, and plan on doing it
again in a week or so. I didn't start at the same point as the
current description, but did do the full loop, starting at the
parking area North of the Birch Run shelter, continuing down and
staying at the Quarry Gap shelter for the night, and they coming
back around on the Loop Gap Tr. to the Rocky Knob Trail.

I really like this hike, to me it's a leisurely backpack that I
don't feel as thought I have to rush to finish in a weekend
trip. The Birch Run shelter is nice, although if you are
staying there and want some seclusion before you cross the foot
bridge into the Birch Run shelter, there is a small trail that
leads off to the left before the footbridge w/ several hidden
away campsites, all very close to the stream. That's where by
group has stayed just to leave the shelter open for others, and
for a but of privacy.

The hike from there to Quarry Gap is nothing spectacular but a
good hike w/ random wildlife sightings. However, the Quarry Gap
shelter is a shelter that is well worth stopping at for the
night if you can. Jim, who take care of the shelter, does a
fantastic job and is a spectacular host if he's there as you are
staying. The shelter is meticulously well maintained. He's has
routed a small run off of the stream to go right to the shelter,
the shelters are always clean, even of forest leaving and such.
The fire pit is well done and he usually leaves plenty of wood
around for fires, you just have to look. He's also carved out
an area for larger groups to camp, as well as built 2 platforms
for shelter overflow for tent campers.

He also has a large archway of rhododendron bushes as you leave
the south exit of the camp which is pretty cool.

The remainder of the hike around Long Pine Run reservoir is also
very nice w/ several scenic views as you walk along.

Critique: My girlfriend and I did the full hike, including one
night at the Birch Run campsite, on a Friday/Saturday in early
August. It took us about 8 hours. Our cell phone calculated more
like 20 miles, as opposed to the 14.7 miles, but I'm not sure
which is more accurate. It was a largely flat terrain with only
a few areas of elevation. The lake was pretty, and the wooded
areas were pleasant enough with the trees providing a cooling
shade during the hot summer sun. We hardly passed anyone else,
although there was another couple using the shelter at Birch
Run. There were multiple camping opportunities along the way,
although we stuck with Birch Run because there were a few sites
further from the trail and because there was a bear pole. Note
that there are no clean water sources along this route, only
some streams (so you will need to have iodine tablets or boil
the water). The water spigots on the map were misleading! You do
pass a few gravel roads along the way, which do take away from
the seclusion factor of the hike a bit. No sweeping views or
vistas. Overall, a decent relatively easy hike, probably more
beautiful in the spring (due to all the Rhododendrons) or the
fall.

Critique: This time I left the car in Caledonia SP and took AT
all the way to the turn on Rocky Knob Tr. There were quite a lot
of hikers on AT, so if you are looking for solitude and/or
bear-watching it is not the place. There are blueberries and
huckleberries everywhere, and the lake is just beautiful.

Critique: Beautiful, long day hike. I initially planned for an
overnight trip staying at the specified shelter, but after
arriving there at 2:15pm (started at 11am), decided to head
south on the Appalachian Trail. Finished the 14.7 mile loop in 6
and a half hours. Fantastic views if you take the right fork of
the Rocky Knob trail once past the lake. Will hike again!

Critique: The trails are freshly blazed, well-maintained and
easy. The right fork of Rocky Knob Tr has very good views and
provides opportunity to climb the knob. On the last stretch we
turned left from AT on Hosack Run Tr. Will definitely visit this
area in summer.

Critique: There are advantages and disadvantages to Michaux.
The big advantage is that, as the crow flies, it isn't that far
from the Baltimore-Washington area, trails are well marked and
you will never get lonely in this forest. As more of a valley
than a mountain range, you don't get too many sweeping views.
The AT here is well-used, well-maintained and you get more of a
sense that you are walking on a road more so than trail. The
biggest downside though is getting there, The suburban sprawl
between Maryland and this region of PA has caused traffic to
slow to a crawl along 97 and 30, so plan accordingly and avoid
rush hour.